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I have been reading the forum for some time and have finally joined. I am generally reading over the shoulder of a current member who already lives in Maine but spends some months in my current state (FL).

My DH and I avidly research properties for sale in maine which we find on the web and have noticed some terms which require further explanation for us.

One is walkout basement.

The other is daylight basement.

I want to thank you for providing such a thoughtful forum for readers. I've read here for a long time and know that it takes great patience and kindness and thought to keep this forum fresh and helpful to the participants.
I feel like I know some of you and wait for your responses to questions.

Hope you'll have time to answer what are probably simple questions and hope others have similar questions to help us all translate real-estate speak.

I am not in maine and I may be wrong....but I believe a walkout basement has a door to the outside, not a bulkhead with steps up to the back yard, but a door that leads directly to the out doors. A daylight basement has windows on at least one side wall so there is "daylight" that shines in. It isnt a cellar--or a subteranean hole in the ground.

I am sure there are others with more details but that is what I take it to mean. (I am neither a builder or a realtor or a home owner in maine, but I have been reading hundreds of listings.

I am not in maine and I may be wrong....but I believe a walkout basement has a door to the outside, not a bulkhead with steps up to the back yard, but a door that leads directly to the out doors. A daylight basement has windows on at least one side wall so there is "daylight" that shines in. It isnt a cellar--or a subteranean hole in the ground.

I am sure there are others with more details but that is what I take it to mean. (I am neither a builder or a realtor or a home owner in maine, but I have been reading hundreds of listings.

Thank you !! That was certainly fast. I went to do some reading and then refreshed and there you were. Thank you, again.

That does make very good sense on both counts. Don't know why I didn't see that. Sheesh.

Welcome to the forum maineorbust. A walk out basement gives you the opportunity to exit through French doors or a slider to the outside without going up stairs or through a bulkhead. You will usually find these on lots that slope in the back and many home owners find them more desirable than a basement that has a bulkhead or "doghouse" with stairs. Many use the term daylight and walkout interchangably, I would consider a daylight basement one with full-size windows, as opposed to those cinderblock sized windows that are found in non-daylight basements.

I am not in maine and I may be wrong....but I believe a walkout basement has a door to the outside, not a bulkhead with steps up to the back yard, but a door that leads directly to the out doors. A daylight basement has windows on at least one side wall so there is "daylight" that shines in. It isnt a cellar--or a subteranean hole in the ground.

I am sure there are others with more details but that is what I take it to mean. (I am neither a builder or a realtor or a home owner in maine, but I have been reading hundreds of listings.

I have seen a number of older farmhouses in Maine built on a slope. Where it looks like they dug a huge trench before building the house. The front of the house looks 'normal' the foundation is about a foot above grade, on the back side of the house the basement floor is at grade and you see a barn door. So that they could walk their horse maybe on flat level ground into their basement. I do not know if that was done for ease of stacking firewood in there, or maybe coal. I am thinking that maybe if they hauled stuff on a buckboard, then they could back it into their basement. But these have been houses where they had no attached barn.

You also see a lot of houses where the barn was built twenty feet away, then later they connected both structures.

"wet Basement" is when the spring rains come and the snow is melting, the basement floor is wet, sometimes it looks like a frigging pool. Depends on the house, the ground under it, amount of snowpack, and amount of rain. Mine would be considered a wet basement.

Living with one is just making sure the area has some ventilation so mold doesn't start to grow, making sure the sump pump is in good working order BEFORE you need it (hence the pool reference), and if things are left in the basement - make sure they are above the high tide mark LOL.

Some instances it is nothing more than the slope is wrong heading to the basement door and the snow melt and rain runs downhill into the basement instead of away from the house. Sometimes it takes nothing more than a few hours and a shovel to correct the slope and the basement stays dry. I would bet that is the case with the house you are looking at if they say wet, basement. It looks as though the walkway leading to the basement door slopes toward the house a bit, there is plenty of drop in the yard to change that, if it that is indeed the problem. If you like to play with equipment like I do, Grand Rental Station in Presque Isle rents a small backhoe/bucket for $165 for an 8 hour day and you can get some serious work done with the little things.

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